Good Mid Morning to You!

I didn't sleep well the past few nights as I am so use to having Grim here and his breathing machine.... I'll tell you that thing really drowns out the night time noises. I could hear the rabbit fart in the next room. No I'm not kidding... It was terrible... LOL! But all that changes tonight, For Grim will be home some time tonight. YEAH!! So because we missed him so much I am making his favorite dinner.... HAM! Of course there will be side dishes also. Man can't live on ham alone.... But I'm sure Grim would try! :O)

I was so bored after dinner last night. I was full but with boredom comes the cravings to eat, and eat anything that isn't tied down. So what's a crafty girl like me to do? Yep, you guessed it, I pulled out the sewing machine and got started on the aprons that I bought the material for last October. Yep, procrastinator...right here! Once I got started I kept going and got 3 of them done. None of them have pockets though... the pocket pattern didn't line up with the apron pattern. Not me just a miss print on the material. That was fine with me as it went alot quicker. When I say quicker it took an hour to iron and sew each one. I'm not complaining.... I am thrilled to have gotten that much done.

I would have sewn more but I found what I had forgotten that I bought. I got a sock loom. So I wanted to watch the video and get started. Not quite as easy as it looks in the video. But I am determined to at least make a pair of socks. Then maybe my brain will click and I can do it with needles instead... or if not then get good enough with the loom to make a ton of socks. See that is like hitting the big time for me.... Making socks! Last year it was figuring out how to make a real loaf of bread with my own two hands. So the socks and getting my seedlings to grow outside are the big time for me this year!
Top of the World, Ma!!!

I hit the gym this morning after dropping of Mouthy. Got to do my hour on the elleptical, over 4 miles today. I even got my speed up over 5 miles an hour for a bit. That machine use to scare the bejesus out of me. I thought it was going to kill me. Luckily, I figured it out, as it is the best exercise I can do for me. Gets me moving and quickly and as long as I don't use the moving handles my heart rate stays right in target range. Even went through my whole water bottle before I was finished. But I sweated most of it out... It's good to be hydrated!

Well, I've rambled enough for today...
Gotta Run,
Yart

It's Official

Grim is back to work... well, he is in Chicago, being re-certified. We will be paid for this so, he's back to work. He will be home sometime tomorrow evening. I'll tell you, I don't know what to do with myself. He's gone and the monsters are at school. This is the first time in a year that someone wasn't home with me. So I went to the gym after I dropped Mouthy off at school. I was able to do an hour on the elliptical (almost 4 miles). Then I came home and did my weight training. Puttsed around for awhile, then finished the switching out of all the winter for the warmer weather clothes. That was a chore in and of itself.

I've finished reading Nora Roberts circle trilogy. Very good as all of her work is. Now I'm on to Farm City The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter. It is a very good book so far. If you would like to know more about Novella you can check out her blog here.

I signed myself up for another year with Cold Antler Farms Wool CSA. If your interested you can find out all the details here. Jenna, is going to be holding a lottery for new members to be able to join for the 2011/2012 season. I really like the first skien of yarn that I recieved and am looking forward to the rest of my share for this year. As soon as I'm done knitting with it I will show you. Not sure if it's a scarf or a table runner. You can be the judge when you see it.

Spring is really here. No more snow, but the rain is making the yard a complete mess. I can't even get out there to assess the winter's damage. Hopefully, there isn't to much that needs to be fixed or replaced. I know that the chives are up in the back. But when I was able to sneak a peek at the mints, they showed no sign of life... LOL! Neither did either of the blueberries. Ah, I guess I need to put on the rain suit and cute boots. But that unfortunately will have to wait for another day. Even though I was bored out of my skull today. Tonight I do have some ideas of things to do. I will be digging out the sewing machine and trying to get the aprons sewn up. You remember those the ones I cut out months ago. Yep, still sitting in the box waiting!

I have gotten very comfortable with Fluffy Bunny. I trim his nails and handle him in general. Yep, its a him.... I know because one day I was trimming the nails and it was in my hand. Anyways, we decided that since I am way more comfortable with the House Bunny that it was time to start looking into fiber rabbits. Yes, they will have names as they won't be used as food. Need to point that out in case Picky monster were to ever read the blog... I did make it public. She is against eating rabbit. I am not. But in this case it makes the most since not to eat the fiber rabbits as I think I might end up with a hair ball... cough, cough.... LOL! I don't know yet if I like the English or the French angora better, or if there is even a difference. They will be outside and I need to get a kennel for them... I really don't expect them until summer sometime.

There are plans aplenty... And I just don't want to jinx them... so that's all I'm going to say about that... LOL! I know mysterious!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Tuesday's Musings

Back from today's appointments. Grim got his stitches out and had a therapy session. Now we are home and laundry is in the washer doing its thing.... LOL! Off of my lists yesterday I got the bread made, some laundry done and all of the summer to winter clothes switched out. Out of the clothes I managed to get rid of two more garbage bags full. I didn't realize how many clothes I had..... I just did this back in the spring and got rid of several bags then also. I really did think about going out to the garden yesterday, but it was gray and gloomy. So the garden lives another day. I know I'm being lazy about it. And once it is done, its done, not like dishes or laundry. Maybe today!?!

I also put up a list on the sidebar to help with remembering what it is that I'm suppose to be doing. I get side tracked quite often. So if it where I will look like a million times a day, then I might actually get something done. And that also goes to helping me clean up my desk area. Got lots of starts just none really finished. Soon!?!

Who would have thought that today is already the 19th.... Where has the month gone or really where has this year gone. I keep blinking and the days are gone. I think that one of the reasons that I strive for sustainability is that I want more down time. I know that sounds funny. Because sustainability is hard, time consuming work. Here is the case in point:

• I spend an hour making laundry soap, it will last 2 to 3 months. Yes, it took an hour to make, but it saves me from going to the store twice a month for more laundry detergent.

• I spend the day baking bread and goodies for the freezer. We then have a months worth of bakery products. Yep, a day gone, but it saves me from having to run to the convenience store at 10 o'clock at night because we don't have bread for lunches in the morning.

• I spend a couple of weeks a year gardening and canning. But I have food on hand for the winter that saves my sanity on what to cook for dinner.

So yes, what I do is hard, time consuming work but it allows me more family/me time. It saves money that can be spent on leisure pursuits. As an added bonus I now have time to learn things that I never thought I would have time to do, such as knitting, sewing, making bread. I love these things.

Even though it is the 31 days of Halloween.... and pumpkins are very much in the spotlight right now.... There are other October harvests hiding in the background that need to be taken notice of:

• Apples
• Beets
• Blackberries
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chicory
• Cranberries
• Dates
• Figs
• Grapes
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Okra
• Oranges
• Parsnips
• Pears (late season)
• Peppers
• Pumpkins
• Quince
• Shallots
• Star fruit
• Sweet Potatoes
• Turnips
• Watercress
• Winter squash

Gotta Run,

Yart

Update, Review & Zombies

Grim is doing well. He made it through the surgery like a champ. Now we have begun the long road to recovery. He had his first therapy session yesterday and he has been using his CPM unit (it moves his arm for him). There is still a pain catheter in his neck that I need to remove later today. It has numbed him so that he can't feel a thing.

Now on to the review! I am a bzzagent.....they sent me an invitation to join on of the study groups about a book called DUST by Joan Frances Turner. They gave me a 50 page excerpt from the book. I read the first paragraph and I was hooked. I knew that I had to read the book. Grim and I went and got it. I read through it in two days. The very first line of the book is "My right arm fell off today. Lucky for me, I'm left-handed." Oh, this book is great. It is about life through the eyes of a zombie. It isn't the zombies that we see in the films that just suddenly rise up. These zombies have been around as long as the human have been here. Very interesting concept. I absolutely loved the book!

Since I'm on the topic of zombies here are a few zombie things I found to share:

Zombie your photo here

Zombie costume directions here

Zombie Silohettes here

Zombie Drinks here 

Zombie Finger Snacks here

Zombie Brain Pate here

Gotta Run,

Yart

Today's the day

We will be leaving here in about 15 minutes to head to the hospital. He has to sign in at 8:30. I'm not sure what time the surgery will take place. They really haven't told us much about what is going to happen. Please if you could say a little prayer or light a candle for us. We are both scared about this procedure.

Gotta Run

Yart

Beter late then never

I know I missed posting for Wednesday. We had a lot of running around to do today. Had to go to the library, then to the salvation army (needed tea cups for the tea party). Then we decided to go and look at TV's the one that I have in the bedroom was a cheap one when I bought it a couple years ago. For the past year it has been showing its age. When it is shut off it has color spots that glow. And since Grim is going to be laid up on Monday. We thought that it was a good idea to replace it. It was a 20 inch flat screen and now we have a 26 inch flat lcd tv. The color is very good and it is super bright. No more wondering what is going on in a dark room on criminal minds... LOL!

The reason I'm up so late is that damn dog of mine is feeling way better. Better then he has a right to. He wasn't feeling well and we knew he had an ear infection. The over the counter meds did nothing so last week we took him to the vet. Sure enough he had a really bad infection in the one ear and just an ordinary infection in the other. He also had an eye infection. Well, he has been on meds for the last 6 days and tonight he wants to play. Everyone is in bed and he was howling in his kennel. I was hoping he just had to pee. No such luck! He is jumping around like he is a puppy. The sad thing is he couldn't have been like this when the monsters were still up. No! He has to do this while I'm trying to sleep. So here I sit at the computer while he's wandering around with all this energy. LOL! Damn dog!!!

I know that I haven't really mentioned this before, Grim is going to have surgery on his shoulder on Monday. This is to hopefully repair the damage that was done to him when he was in the motorcycle accident back the end of March. He has had the cortozone shots then he did therapy, now surgery. I wish that the dumb ass that ran him off the road had been paying more attention but I'm thankful that he didn't get hurt worse or killed. Once the surgery is done, we have been told that the recovery time is like 3 to 4 months. What a mess this whole thing is. 

Here are few things for Halloween countdowns....

Witches' Brew with Broomsticks Recipe 

Halloween Pretzel Treats Recipe 

Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe

Spiderweb Dip with Bat Tortilla Chips Recipe 

Trick-or-Treat Turnovers Recipe

Witch's Hairy Finger Breadsticks Recipe

Gotta Run,

Yart

The apples they hate me

I didn't get to the apples on Monday like I said I would. Some other more pressing stuff happened. But I did get up early on Tuesday and got started on them. I heated up the sauce and started the water. Got everything ready for the first 7 quarts. Got them into the water. I get 3 jars in and I hear a pop. I look and don't see anything floating. I add 2 more jars and I hear another pop. Now I start lifting the jars to see what is going on. You guessed it 2 of the jars lost their bottoms. So the water is all yucky with apple sauce but I went on to can up 10 1/2 quarts of sauce. They are sitting on the counter waiting to be washed and put in the basement.  I think more went into the garbage then I canned up this year. Recap: a whole crook pot of apple butter and the 2 quarts of sauce. I think it bothers me so much because I had to do it by hand. I cored and cooked then put through the hand cranked food mill (last year doing that). Lots of hard work wasted. But enough of that. I was able to get a ton of apple pie filling and jars of sauce. I guess that is what I need to focus on.

Picky monster comes home from school yesterday and tells me that before the science test the teacher called some of the s.ed kids to leave the room to get the test read to them. Picky was not one of those kids. But she was given a s.ed test. She is dyslexic. She can do it, it just takes forever. So I called the school and of course school had only been out for 20 minutes but there was no one to answer the phone. I leave a message and they call back this morning. And of course I have the wrong teacher....... I get transferred to the right person and I explain the issue. She tells me that it will be taken care of. She also tells me that Picky is due for her 3 year testing. She says that she feels that the testing is a waste right now, as Picky is still benefiting from the program. I tell her I agree because if Picky were to be tested right now and hit the borderline then she would be pulled out of s.ed and put in general education. Right now she is at a 5th grade level in 8th grade. She would never be able to keep up. Grim and I talked about it and we agree that if that were to be the case then I would be pulling her and mouthy out and homeschooling them. Picky so that she didn't feel behind and mouthy just because she couldn't stand letting her sister be home all day everyday while she had to deal with her arch nemesis.... LOL! Long story, one day I'll write about that.

Today has not been the greatest of days. We dropped off forms to be filled out by Grims doctor's office. We even have to pay $10 for each form. And this is a regular occurrence, each appointment we have forms. Each time we seem to have problems getting them filled out. We went in last Friday to see if they were ready. I was told that they took 7-10 days and it was only the 7th day. So today is the 10th day. I called about an hour and half ago. They can't find the forms.... Go figure! I already paid for them to be filled out and I told them that if the one form isn't filled out my husbands job is going to fire him. Which is the god's honest truth. They now after 6 months of me sending them everything they required are threatening us with if the forms aren't received by October 6th my husband will be terminated. Even though they have a note from the doctor that Grim will have surgery on October 11th. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Is it really to much to ask that people do the job they are paid to do?!? So here I sit waiting for the doctor's office to call me back. I'm only going to give them another hour then I'm heading up to the office. Cause I think it is one of the out of sight out of mind things!

Gotta Run,

Yart

I miss you all

I know I have missed so much. Mother Moon Congrats on the newest Grand!!! I love babies! Jenna, Congrats on the new place. How very exciting it must be!

But this past month has been super busy. Dealing with both insurance companies, work, the doctors, the disability claims people and he still hasn't seen the specialist yet. That doesn't happen until May 4th. All of the road rash has healed nicely. His shoulder is what is giving him problems right now.

I have busy in the garden every free moment. I found a source of free compost and so I have been using muscles that I didn't even know belonged in my body.... LOL! I got the grass cut in the back. I got and planted 2 blueberry bushes in pots. I know why pots? Good question! But the answer will have to wait for another day.... (I'm tricky that way....LOL!) I was able to find a 4 in 1 apple tree locally and it only cost me $29.99 no shipping. It has jonagold, fuji, braubear (sp?) and granny smith. We don't have room for trees but this will polinate itself. And there was this empty spot behind the garage where junk was piling up. Now no more junk and we have a production plant now! Yeah!!!! I built trellises for the beans and peas. I was able to get the dragon tounge, another type of bean and the peas in the ground on Tuesday. I only had a minor set back. I saw a spider right next to my head on the house and I went to squash him and I hit to hard. I dislocated my thumb.... I know you have to be thinking this is the most accident prone person. I really think I am. But it is all little inconviences. So I can be thankful that nothing major happens to me. With Grim not being able to use his left arm at all right now, we would be in a fix if I did something worse. So I am going to try and take it easy for the next couple of days. But that probably won't happen. LOL! Oh, my rhubarb is huge the crown has to be at least 8 inches across (planted last year) and my grapes have leaves and new growth (planted last year and they stayed sticks all season). I am still hoping to get bunnies this year. But that is a wait and see deal.

This weekend I have to get my butt in gear and get stuff out and washed for an upcoming yard sale. It will be the second weekend in May. I am hoping to sell off most of the junk.... I mean treasures.... LOL! Well, at least if I sell it I won't have to take the time to take and donate. But what ever is left I will do just that. I am feeling the need to downsize and get it done rather quickly. Nope I'm not nesting.... Ever feel that you have way to much stuff and it is keeping you from your full capabilities. That is how I am right now.

I put up a pully system for doing laundry out side. So far it is working. It is taking some getting use to though. The line moves when I don't want it too sometimes. And it is kind of droopy, I don't have the tension set right on it yet.

I have started clearing out my freezers. I know I should have joined the real food challenge last month. But I just didn't have it in me to do it. So now I am lagging behind. :oP But I am hoping to have both of them emptied of all the old stuff by June. I cooked up one of the turkey's on Sunday. We still have a ton left but it will be gone by the weekend. I have a ton of veggies to cook up also. I forgot how much swiss chard I froze.... and beets also. But that just shows how well the garden did last year.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Where have I been

I would like to say that everything is fine and I have just been busy. But unfortunately, everything is not fine. Wednesday afternoon about 20 minutes after Grim left for work on the Harley, he was hit. The bike went one way and he the other. Luckily, he is just banged up, road rashed, & bruised. His leather jacket took a lot of the damage as did his gloves. All the woman who hit him could say was I didn't see you! Seriously, Grim is 6'5" and almost 300 pounds, riding a Harley that is a far cry from quite. And she didn't see him!!! Right now he is on the mend and I thank the Goddess for that. We are not going to stop riding because of this. The only thing that keeps going through my head about this is that had she killed him would she be so nonchalant about telling his children that sorry that he is gone I didn't see him...... I am just so enfuriated by this. How hard is it to pull over to talk on the phone. Or just not answer it. Really, how many life and death calls do you get in a day? Plus, motorcycles are everywhere. They are not a brand new invention, they have been out since 1903, over a hundred years! This is why I waited to write about this. I knew once I started typing it would all come pouring out. Grim and I have been together for over 20 years. We have had our ups and downs. And we almost split up a time or two. But I don't know what I would do without him. When he had his heart attack a couple years ago, that scared me but I didn't see the damage. With this he is pretty battered and everytime I look at him I think because of someone else's stupidity I could have lost him. The past few days have been hell. I have been dealing with the insurance, the impound, and the dealership that will do the work. Then come to find out our family doctor won't deal with accident victims. Time to find a new doctor. But luckily, one of the other doctors in the office agreed to see Grim. What a cluster...... I will keep writing about the status of this as I don't know what will happen next.

On a lighter note I got the onion sets in the ground during the day on Wednesday. We also picked up what we are affectionately calling Audrey (hops plant). It is in a pot in my living room and already grown 2 inches. I wanted to give it a chance at an early start so that's why it's in the house!

Happy Easter!

Gotta Run,
Yart

A new day

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for your kind words yesterday. They helped with a bad day. But as with everything this too shall pass, as if I could do anything about it anyways.... :O)

Well, let me tell you all a little story. When my dad was in the hospital the last weekend, we didn't know he was dieing. They didn't tell us until they thought he only had hours left. So Grim had wanted to go hunting deer. This was his first opportunity to go hunting in like 100 years. I told him to go as I thought everything would be fine. Grim and a neighbor go out and he gets a deer. The only problem is that he shot the things front leg clean off. Fast forward a couple of days and we are at my dad's wake. My mom's sister goes out and buys my Grim a beanie baby deer and taped its leg up. So that he would always have a souvenir of the day. It made a hard day bearable. And we were able to laugh for the first time in days.

Now fast forward again to last Friday night. I stay in the car as Grim and Band monster go into get the other two monsters from grandma's. Picky monster had to come down as the buzzer thing didn't work. So Band monster goes in one elevator and Grim and Picky go into the other. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in the car waiting. My phone rings, Grim says I'm stuck in the elevator......what?......I'm stuck in the elevator with Picky, get me out of here..... (Grim is claustrophobic). So into the building I go. We go to where the elevator is showing on the second floor I can here them and he pushes the call button. The woman on the other end wants to know where he is and what the problem is. She asks if he is near Chicago.... To this he replys "I'm going to die"......LOL! Mind you this is a senior complex. One of the ladies calls 911. So now we have 2 ems and 1 firetruck there to try and get them out. 2 1/2 hours later it is discovered that it was just a blown fuse. They made it out safe and sound. Thank God, that Picky was in there with him as he would have paniced.

Now on to Saturday, it is deceided that since it is such a beautiful day that Grim & the monsters would set up the Christmas lights.... (to many years out there in the freezing cold). A couple of years ago I got an inflateable snow globe with penguins in it. Grim had to carry it up the stairs as the box gave out. He got tangled up in the stabilzing cords and tripped. He put his elbow through the glass in the back door. So off to urgent care we go. Luckily, they just butterflied it up, no stiches. But I did get a new window out of the deal and it is plexi-glass! The lights went up and all is now good in the house.

Today is just a lazy day. We didn't do anything but play on the puters. I am making Italian Chicken for dinner. Then we are going to hang out and watch some of our missed tv shows.

Gotta Run,
Yart